The fall hunt: friends, family, food and fun

Make yourself a deal this fall. Invite a friend who often asks you about your hunting adventures, but has never hunted.

Fall hunting is about friends, family, food and a lot of fun. You already know you enjoy hunting because you get connected with nature. We’ve all had spectacular moments we sometimes take for granted.

Moments like the shower of blazing yellow aspen leaves covering you during a grouse hunt, or catching the sight of ducks swinging into the decoys on a churlish gray morning. And, listening to the sometimes embellished stories at deer camp!

We all know that the connections we have with people and nature are our primary motivators. You can make these even more special by showing a friend – or an acquaintance -- about hunting.

You’ll be amazed how much you know – and how much you enjoy sharing that knowledge with someone else. It’s a two-way gift.

Get started through the mentored hunting program. Anyone interested can try hunting without taking hunter education classes. The mentored hunting opportunity is available to anyone who has not completed hunter education, regardless of age. An adult can hunt under the authority of a mentored hunting license for as many seasons as they can find a willing mentor. An active hunter introducing and mentoring a friend into hunting is like bringing another family into the tradition.

I’ll lay odds that all of us know someone in our neighborhood, or through our church or trap range who wants to learn how to hunt. Well, our challenge is find that person who says, “I’d go hunting if someone would take and teach me.”

It will require commitment. We may have to provide time for instruction, a gun, a spot, and we have to sit with the new hunter instead of hunting by ourselves. No more room at deer camp? Take a friend pheasant hunting -- or turkey hunting next spring.

Or, maybe you are interested in hunting but have not yet been initiated? The mentored hunting license is perfect for you. Ask a friend or family member to take you hunting with a mentored hunting license. You both get to experience nature in the company of family and friends and you can add to the great traditions that keep us going each fall.

So introduce a friend to hunting, or ask some one to take you hunting this fall. The next generation is our legacy. If we don’t do it, who will?